Quilted Jonquil

More progress on my AAQI priority quilt…..I’m going to be worthy of my Temporary Quilt Registration Goddess title

On another note, I bought a bag from Craft Hope for Haiti and it arrived on Friday.  It was donated by Anna Michelle and I love it!  It is bigger than I imagined and very well made.

I received a gift card to a LQS and I wanted to get a Hera marker after learning how much they help getting bias strips ironed.  Seems like fate to me so off to the store I went……..I came home with the marker and some more fabric   In my defense, I didn’t even use up the whole gift card

Added:  3.5     Cumulative Added:  27.5 yds

Used: 0         Cumulative Used:  0 yds

Net Out/(In):   (27.5 yds)  Hmmmmmmmm something is wrong here.

On Tuesday morning a quilting friend passed away from liver cancer.  Dorris had turned 60, was a runner, ate well and generally did the things that keep you healthy.  We learned she was ill in August, wasn’t diagnosed until Oct, I think, and is now gone.  Life is short and it reminds me again to live, really live, each day.  One wonderful thing Dorris did was make a 12″ quilt each week…..the first time her goal was a year.  She skipped a year and found she missed doing them and started again.  I’ve heard her niece is making a photo book of these quilts.  I want to get a copy as Dorris inspired me and I want to have it so that inspiration continues on.  It seems like a fitting tribute to this fun, energetic, wonderful woman I was privileged to know.  Below is a picture from a past Quintessential Quilt show with Dorris’ entry, the blue quilt 2nd from the left.

Here’s a picture of my AAQI priority quilt progress   Another flower and stem.   My goal is to have the applique work done this weekend.  I’ll then do a bit of embroidery work and jump on the quilting.  I should start thinking of a project to raise money for cancer research in honor of Dorris……I think she’d like that.

Here’s my progress since yesterday. Still not a whole lot to look at but there’s a flower!

I used a tip I read on a blog post (wish I could remember which one so I could give them their due!) about running your Hera marker along a ruler to mark the lines for ironing bias pieces for stems.  I don’t yet have a Hera marker so I used a mechanical pencil with the lead retracted.  It worked amazingly well.  The fabric just irons right over and my stems are narrow, approximately 1/4″.

Edited to add: The tip was from Janet in Australia (her blog is Quiltsalott)  and she wrote about it in this post.  Thank you, Janet!

Funny how cats can curl themselves up to be exactly the size of what they want to lay on, isn’t it?  I’m hand quilting this project and it’s “resting” while I work on the AAQI priority quilt.  Simontacchi thinks it needs a “resting” partner   Here’s the progress I’ve made on the AAQI quilt.  The blue lines are the “Definitely Can’t Be Larger Than or Ami’s Head Might Explode” lines

Nothing much has changed on my design wall.  I moved some of the border squares around and even sewed a couple together.  Be sure to check out what other quilters are working on by visiting Judy’s Design Wall Monday post.

I did finish my First Sat block….not due until Feb 6th, I might add!!!

I might have been a bit distracted from sewing by this fun puzzle I bought on sale from Connecting Threads.  It’s a good one in that the pieces aren’t all cut in a grid so it’s more challenging.

Also got all the prep work completed for my AAQI priority quilt.  I just set the pieces on the background and laid down a couple of stems…..the rest of the flowers will have stems too

I received my copy of the AQS magazine yesterday……..

and Nancy Hahn, a member of our quilt guild and friend, has a full page celebrating her Best Hand Workmanship award at the AQS show in Des Moines for “Springtime”.

This quilt won Best of Show in the Quintessential Quilt 2007 show, which our guild directs in University City, MO.  Congratulations Nancy on another win!!!  Our small, but wonderful, judged & juried Quintessential Quilt biennial shows receive many beautiful and wonderfully crafted entries and we are so proud to have shown Nancy’s quilt in one of them.

On the AAQI priority quilt front, I’ve already made progress   I sketched my design on the Metrolink the morning after The Challenge and think I achieved the folk art look I wanted.   I’ll hand applique this design so I have to get the fabrics selected and the pieces prepared this weekend if I want to have a shot at making the March 16th deadline for the quilt guild meeting!!!

A Temporary Quilt Registration Goddess, that is.   I’ve been following Ami Simms’ blog for over two years and have being thinking I would make a Priority Quilt for the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative which Ami founded (she the executive director and runs the day-to-day operations).   Thinking about it for two years has resulted in me sending them squat, yes squat!  So, I threw out a challenge to my quilt guild last night to make a Priority Quilt and bring the finished quilt to our March meeting.  This means I HAVE to make a quilt….my reputation is at stake!  What about being a Goddess?  Well, I volunteered to be the Temporary Quilt Registration Goddess and shepherd everyone’s quilt through the process of registration, mailing and watching anxiously for our quilts to be auctioned.  So okay, yes, I’m doing this just so I can be a goddess, you’ve got me

I (the Goddess) received a Christmas gift from my mother this weekend, Liberated Quiltmaking II by Gwen Marston which just came out.  Woo Hoo, it is wonderful and has already been back and forth on my Metrolink commute to work.  See the white bits at the bottom of the book?  Yes, I’m wearing it out already!!  I have not seen Gwen’s first book which has been out-of-print for quite awhile and sells for lots on Ebay but I heard it was just wonderful so I wanted this one badly.  Thanks, MOM!  I love it.

And you know I love the free-pieced letters ala Tanya from Lazy Gal Quilting or liberated letters, as Gwen refers to them.  Well, here’s Tanya’s quilt in Gwen’s book, bottom right   Awesome!

See the new button on my side bar for Craft Hope?  Craft Hope is doing a great thing…..asking crafters to donate items and selling them on Etsy with 100% of the proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders for help in Haiti.  The donations and sales have been incredible for the three days it’s been running.  Far exceeding their expectations.  Click the button for Craft Hope and check out the Etsy store from their link.

You can check out what other people are working on by checking in with Judy’s Design Wall Monday post.  Here’s what’s on my design wall:

The crumb quilt from my scraps I’m calling Fiesta!  The crumb border blocks are not sewn yet as I’m still playing with the placement but it’s much closer to finished now.

I was involved in a little retail therapy:

But a couple of the piece are to be used immediately (yes, I’m justifying).

This piece is already cut into squares, making 8 napkins (in place of paper so this is a green project…never mind I already have cloth napkins )

This piece I bought to practice some long arm quilting.  I thought these prints of vintage appliqued quilts would provide a fun, structured practice piece.  In addition, one of the other pieces, the purple one, has already been used for the second border on “Fiesta” so that means 5 yards have already been put into play

First 2010 Stash Report:

Added:  15     Cumulative Added:  24 yds

Used: 0         Cumulative Used:  0 yds  (I’ll count the napkins when they are finished and the practice piece when I’ve practiced!)

Net Out/(In): (24 yds)  Ugh!

On a better note, here are some pictures of my cats…

Last, here are the fabrics for the January First Saturday blocks.  Can’t wait to get these done.

It’s Design Wall Monday   Check out Judy’s DSM post to see what other folks are working on.  I’m still working away on the 4 1/2″ crumb blocks.  I have 30 completed and only about 8 more to go, whoo hoo!

First 2010 Stash Report:

Added:  9     Cumulative Added:  9 yds

Used: 0         Cumulative Used:  0 yds

Net Out/(In): (9 yds)